When Navy Lieutenant Commander Bruce Rolfe and his wife, Cora, moved into their quarters at 1204-B Regulus Drive at Kauai’s Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF) in the early 1980s, they began to experience unexplainable phenomenon.
At night, for instance, the ceiling light in one bedroom would flash on and off, the hallway smoke alarm often blared for no apparent reason, and the Rolfes could hear what sounded like the refrigerator door opening and closing.
But it was not until their visiting grandchildren told them they’d seen a woman dressed all in white inside their home that they seriously suspected their house was indeed haunted.
In November 1985, while the Rolfes prepared to transfer to the Navy base at San Diego, PMRF housing manager Charlene Castor admitted that she’d often received complaints about odd goings-on in the Navy quarters at PMRF.
“They come home and they find ashtrays and tables in a different area. Household items shifted around, refrigerators opened and closed, and shoes turned upside down. All I recommend is they have their places blessed,” Castor said.
And base spokeswoman Mariana Graham revealed that in 1982, a woman who lived in the housing area became so upset at hearing a voice call her name, she had the house exorcised and then the voices stopped.
Graham also revealed that over the years, other children have described a “white lady” with “long hair” wearing a “white shawl.”
William Kikuchi, professor of archaeology and anthropology at Kauai Community College, said the “whole area where Barking Sands is has been considered to be haunted. There are many, many stories of hauntings by prehistoric Hawaiian ghosts and ghosts that march right through the Barking Sands area.”
Kikuchi also noted that the more mischievous occurrences — furniture moving and doors opening — sounded more like the work of a poltergeist than Hawaiian spirits.
Not long ago, two Navy petty officers stationed at PMRF for quite some time told me that they’ve sometimes heard the sounds of unaccountable strange music and drums beating late at night coming from Barking Sands.
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Hank Soboleski has been a resident of Kauai since the 1960s. Hank’s love of the island and its history has inspired him, in conjunction with The Garden Island Newspaper, to share the island’s history weekly. The collection of these articles can be found here: https://bit.ly/2IfbxL9 and here https://bit.ly/2STw9gi Hank can be reached at hssgms@gmail.com.
